Väståboland
Pargas is located in Åboland in the province of Western Finland and is part of the Southwest Finland region. It was created as Väståboland on 1 January 2009 in Southwest Finland, when the municipalities of Pargas, Nagu, Korpo, Houtskär and Iniö were merged into a single municipality.
The municipality has a population of 14,961 (31 August 2024) and covers an area of 5,548.17 square kilometres (2,142.16 sq mi) of which 4,666.46 km (1,801.73 sq mi) is water. The population density is 16.92 inhabitants per square kilometre (43.8/sq mi).
Pargas is a bilingual municipality with Finnish and Swedish as its official languages. The population consists of 41% Finnish speakers, 54% Swedish speakers, and 5% speakers of other languages.
Economy
Pargas has a large limestone industry, with the industry and Nordkalk as an important local employer, agriculture employs many in the rural regions of the municipality. Furthermore, the shipping industry is a relevant industry in the region. The municipality is suffering from high debt.
History
Archaeological excavations revealed that the vikings used to travel to the archipelago in the 9th century.
Karin Thomasdotter (1610–1697), who served as vogt in Pargas for over forty years, was one of the longest serving vogts, and also one of only two females to have the position in contemporary Finland.
Recent history
On 1 January 2009, Pargas, Nagu, Korpo, Houtskär and Iniö merged to form the new municipality of Väståboland (Finnish: Länsi-Turunmaa).
Name dispute
Shortly after the merge, people started debating if the Väståboland name was the right name for the merged municipality; those arguing against the Väståboland name proposed Pargas as a 'new' name. The former municipalities could not agree on a new name, and Pargas insisted on a change, so the state had to step in and decided that the name would be Väståboland. The debates became heated and a referendum was arranged to decide what name the municipality should have in May 2011. The result of the referendum showed that 57,7% of the voters supported Pargas and 40.1% of voters supported Väståboland. Though the overall majority supported changing the name, there was an overwhelming support for the name Väståboland in 4 out of 5 of the former municipalities. In Iniö, only 1 voter out of 173 total voted for Pargas, in all four, 62 out of 2060, while in Pargas proper, 74,5% voted for Pargas.
The municipality council (Swedish: "Fullmäktige") decided on 14 June 2011 in favour of the majority population and decided to rename the municipality Pargas on 1 January 2012. The Council considered taking this issue up again for debate and vote. The council made a re-vote on 6 September 2011 with 25 votes for Pargas, 17 for Väståboland and 1 blank vote.
Merge with Kimitoön
The possibility of merging with Kimitoön to form a single municipality that would include the entire Åboland archipelago has been discussed since 2007, with interest being reignited by the healthcare reforms during the Sipilä Cabinet.
Climate
Pargas has a humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification Dfb) closely bordering on an oceanic climate (Cfb).
| Climate data for Pargas (1991–2020 normals, extremes 1959–present) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 7.7 (45.9) |
6.7 (44.1) |
11.6 (52.9) |
15.9 (60.6) |
21.5 (70.7) |
25.9 (78.6) |
29.2 (84.6) |
27.1 (80.8) |
22.3 (72.1) |
17.0 (62.6) |
12.8 (55.0) |
9.2 (48.6) |
29.2 (84.6) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 1.4 (34.5) |
0.2 (32.4) |
1.8 (35.2) |
5.6 (42.1) |
10.7 (51.3) |
15.6 (60.1) |
19.8 (67.6) |
19.6 (67.3) |
15.3 (59.5) |
9.9 (49.8) |
5.9 (42.6) |
3.5 (38.3) |
9.1 (48.4) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | −0.2 (31.6) |
−1.4 (29.5) |
0.1 (32.2) |
3.5 (38.3) |
8.3 (46.9) |
13.4 (56.1) |
17.6 (63.7) |
17.7 (63.9) |
13.6 (56.5) |
8.5 (47.3) |
4.6 (40.3) |
2.0 (35.6) |
7.3 (45.2) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | −1.8 (28.8) |
−3.0 (26.6) |
−1.6 (29.1) |
1.4 (34.5) |
5.8 (42.4) |
11.1 (52.0) |
15.4 (59.7) |
15.7 (60.3) |
11.9 (53.4) |
7.0 (44.6) |
3.2 (37.8) |
0.5 (32.9) |
5.5 (41.8) |
| Record low °C (°F) | −27.6 (−17.7) |
−28.0 (−18.4) |
−21.2 (−6.2) |
−11.4 (11.5) |
−1.2 (29.8) |
0.8 (33.4) |
7.0 (44.6) |
7.4 (45.3) |
0.6 (33.1) |
−4.5 (23.9) |
−9.9 (14.2) |
−22.4 (−8.3) |
−28.0 (−18.4) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 44 (1.7) |
34 (1.3) |
32 (1.3) |
24 (0.9) |
28 (1.1) |
42 (1.7) |
47 (1.9) |
57 (2.2) |
57 (2.2) |
66 (2.6) |
62 (2.4) |
57 (2.2) |
551 (21.7) |
| Source: Extreme Weather Watch | |||||||||||||
| Climate data for Parainen Fagerholm (1991-2020 normals, records 1993-present) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 8.5 (47.3) |
8.9 (48.0) |
11.6 (52.9) |
20.1 (68.2) |
25.8 (78.4) |
28.2 (82.8) |
31.7 (89.1) |
30.5 (86.9) |
24.6 (76.3) |
17.0 (62.6) |
14.1 (57.4) |
9.7 (49.5) |
31.7 (89.1) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 0.5 (32.9) |
−0.7 (30.7) |
1.8 (35.2) |
6.7 (44.1) |
12.3 (54.1) |
17.0 (62.6) |
20.5 (68.9) |
19.8 (67.6) |
15.3 (59.5) |
9.7 (49.5) |
5.5 (41.9) |
2.7 (36.9) |
9.3 (48.7) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | −1.3 (29.7) |
−2.6 (27.3) |
−0.6 (30.9) |
3.5 (38.3) |
9.1 (48.4) |
14.0 (57.2) |
17.8 (64.0) |
17.4 (63.3) |
13.2 (55.8) |
8.0 (46.4) |
4.0 (39.2) |
1.2 (34.2) |
7.0 (44.6) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | −3.6 (25.5) |
−5.2 (22.6) |
−3.5 (25.7) |
0.8 (33.4) |
5.8 (42.4) |
11.1 (52.0) |
15.2 (59.4) |
15.1 (59.2) |
11.3 (52.3) |
6.5 (43.7) |
2.4 (36.3) |
−0.7 (30.7) |
4.6 (40.3) |
| Record low °C (°F) | −26.8 (−16.2) |
−25.7 (−14.3) |
−20.8 (−5.4) |
−11.3 (11.7) |
−1.2 (29.8) |
4.2 (39.6) |
9.6 (49.3) |
8.2 (46.8) |
3.5 (38.3) |
−4.0 (24.8) |
−12.0 (10.4) |
−20.3 (−4.5) |
−26.8 (−16.2) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 56 (2.2) |
39 (1.5) |
36 (1.4) |
30 (1.2) |
29 (1.1) |
46 (1.8) |
52 (2.0) |
62 (2.4) |
59 (2.3) |
72 (2.8) |
70 (2.8) |
67 (2.6) |
617 (24.3) |
| Average precipitation days (≥ 0.1 mm) | 17 | 13 | 12 | 11 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 13 | 13 | 16 | 18 | 19 | 161 |
| Source 1: https://www.ilmatieteenlaitos.fi/ilmastollinen-vertailukausi | |||||||||||||
| Source 2: https://kilotavu.com/asema-taulukko.php?asema=100924 | |||||||||||||
International relations
Twin towns — Sister cities
Pargas is twinned with:
Haninge Municipality, Sweden
See also
References
- ^ "Area of Finnish Municipalities 1.1.2018" (PDF). National Land Survey of Finland. Retrieved 30 January 2018.
- ^ "Finland's preliminary population figure was 5,625,011 at the end of August 2024". Population structure. Statistics Finland. 24 September 2024. ISSN 1797-5395. Retrieved 25 September 2024.
- ^ "Population according to age (1-year) and sex by area and the regional division of each statistical reference year, 2003–2020". StatFin. Statistics Finland. Retrieved 2 May 2021.
- ^ "Luettelo kuntien ja seurakuntien tuloveroprosenteista vuonna 2023". Tax Administration of Finland. 14 November 2022. Retrieved 7 May 2023.
- ^ "Discovering Swedish-speaking municipalities: Pargas". Helsinkitimes.fi. 22 January 2015. Retrieved 28 December 2017.
- ^ "Ekonomin högst upp på den väståboländska agendan". Svenska.yle.fi. Retrieved 28 December 2017.
- ^ Suomen kansallisbiografia (National Biography of Finland)
- ^ Ohlander, Ann-Sofie. Tusen svenska kvinnoår, 2008. Upplaga 3. uppl.
- ^ "Det blev Väståboland stad". Hbl.fi. Retrieved 28 December 2017.
- ^ Oy, Ch5 Finland. "Folkomröstning angående stadens namn". Vastaboland.fi. Retrieved 28 December 2017.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ Oy, Ch5 Finland. "Rådgivande kommunal folkomröstning 22.5 - resultat". Vastaboland.fi. Retrieved 28 December 2017.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ "Väståboland blir Pargas". Hbl.fi. Retrieved 28 December 2017.
- ^ "Regeringen ändrar på förutsättningen för namnfrågan". Svenska.yle.fi. Retrieved 28 December 2017.
- ^ Oy, Ch5 Finland. "Fullmäktige beslöt om stadens namn". Vastaboland.fi. Archived from the original on 17 September 2012. Retrieved 28 December 2017.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ ""Åboländsk storkommun måste diskuteras"". Svenska.yle.fi. Retrieved 28 December 2017.
- ^ Parainen Weather Records
External links
Media related to Pargas at Wikimedia Commons
- Town of Pargas – Official website
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